5.  The applicant was born in 1966 in Gabala, Azerbaijan and lives in Germany.
6.  At the time of the events in question, the applicant was a journalist working at the Turan Information Agency based in Baku.
7.  On 9 November 2005 a group of political parties representing the opposition held an authorised demonstration at Gabala Square in Baku. The applicant, who was covering the demonstration, was wearing a special blue vest identifying him as a journalist.
8.  At the edge of the square where the demonstration was held, there was a tall metal construction resembling a staircase. The applicant, who was taking pictures of the demonstration, climbed up this construction to get a better view. During a number of previous demonstrations in the same square, the construction had been used by journalists for the same purpose.
9.  While the applicant was taking pictures, the Deputy Head of the Yasamal District Police Office, Colonel C. M., hit him with a truncheon several times. This event was witnessed by a number of journalists and other people standing nearby.
10.  Shortly after this incident, C. M. approached a group of journalists and remarked: “I hit him softly, if I hit him hard he would die.” One of the journalists managed to record the remark on tape.
11.  On 10 November 2005 the applicant went to hospital to seek medical treatment. He was given certain medical advice for outpatient treatment verbally but was not given a written prescription. The doctor who examined him issued a medical certificate which read as follows, in the relevant parts:
“Full diagnosis: contusion (əzilmə) of the left leg, contusion (əzilmə) of the left upper arm.
According to the patient, at around 3 p.m. on 9 November 2005 he was injured during a demonstration... The patient received treatment and [medical] advice. This certificate was issued on 10 November 2005.”
12.  On 11 November 2005 the applicant lodged a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He complained that C. M. had used excessive and unjustified force against him, that several people had witnessed this and that he had a tape recording of C. M.’s admission that he had hit the applicant with a truncheon. Other journalists’ organisations, including the Azerbaijani Press Council, also wrote to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs asking them to punish the person responsible for the applicant’s ill‑treatment.
13.  According to the Government, the applicant’s complaint of 11 November 2005 was received by the Prosecutor General’s Office on 14 November 2005 and was subsequently transferred to the Yasamal District Prosecutor’s Office, which received it on 28 November 2005.
14.  On 1 December 2005, at a prosecutor’s request, the applicant was examined by a forensic expert who discovered no injuries which might have been inflicted on 9 November 2005 on the applicant’s person. In particular, the forensic report, issued on the same day, read as follows:
“[Examination:] There is a clear-contoured dark blue-violet bruise (qançır) of an indefinite shape, measuring 3.5x2.5 cm, on the upper one-third portion of the outward side of the left thigh. No other injuries or traces of injuries were discovered on other parts of the body, including the left upper arm. ...
[Conclusion:] 1. The forensic examination of [the applicant] revealed one bruise on the upper one-third portion of the outward side of his left thigh; the bruise was caused by a blunt object (it is impossible to make more specific observations about the type of the blunt object because the injured area bears no signs of individual characteristics of the object that came into contact with it); the time [of infliction of the injury] is approximately two to four days prior to the examination; [the injury] is not harmful to health... 2. It is impossible to determine whether [the applicant] had sustained any injuries on 9 November 2005 because no injuries or traces of injuries inflicted on that day have been observed during the forensic examination and because the certificate [of 10 November 2005] issued in his name did not specify objective signs of injury (in other words, the observation of “contusions” (əzilmə) in that certificate was not supported by description of objective criteria of an injury such as a bruise (qançır), abrasion (sıyrıq), wound (yara), and so on).”
15.  On 3 December 2005 the Deputy Prosecutor of the Yasamal District Prosecutor’s Office issued a decision not to institute criminal proceedings. The prosecutor had examined two witness testimonies, submitted by two journalists, in support of the applicant’s version of events, and the submissions of C. M., who argued that he had not used excessive force on the applicant, but that he had asked him to climb down from the metal construction due to a risk of it collapsing and injuring people standing in the vicinity. Two police officers had testified in support of C. M.’s version of events. The prosecutor also had regard to the forensic report of 1 December 2005 and concluded that the available evidence did not disclose any appearance of a criminal act.
16.  The applicant lodged a complaint against that decision with the Yasamal District Court. He argued that the prosecutor’s decision was unsubstantiated. In particular, the prosecutor had not taken into consideration the witness testimonies, the medical certificate of 10 November 2005, the tape recording and the photos submitted on his behalf. He also disputed the impartiality of the forensic report of 1 December 2005, on which the prosecutor had largely relied. In support of his claim, the applicant submitted the medical certificate of 10 November 2005, the tape recording and the photos.
17.  On 26 January 2006 the Yasamal District Court dismissed the applicant’s complaint and found that the prosecutor’s decision of 3 December 2005 had been lawful and properly substantiated. The court noted that C.M. had acted within his competence and performed his duties in bringing the applicant down from the metal construction in order to ensure the safety of the people nearby. The court also relied on the forensic report of 1 December 2005, noting that no injuries which might have been inflicted on 9 November 2005 were discovered on the applicant’s body.
18.  The decision contained no reference to the evidence submitted by the applicant, the medical certificate of 10 November 2005, the tape recording and the photos. It appears from the transcripts of the hearing that the court did not hear evidence from any witnesses.
19.  On 27 January 2006 the applicant appealed against the decision, reiterating his previous complaints.
20.  On 8 February 2006 the Court of Appeal upheld the Yasamal District Court’s decision of 26 January 2006.
21.  On 22 March 2006 the applicant lodged a civil action against C. M., claiming compensation for damage to his human dignity and professional reputation. He also asked the court to forward the case materials to the prosecution authorities for a new examination of the question of C. M.’s criminal liability.
22.  On 10 April 2006 the Yasamal District Court refused to admit the applicant’s claim. The court considered that the claim was, in essence, the same as his previous criminal complaint, which had already been rejected by a final decision of the domestic courts.
23.  Following a series of appeals by the applicant, on 5 October 2006 the Supreme Court upheld the lower courts’ decisions in the part relating to the complaint against the alleged hitting of the applicant. However, the Supreme Court quashed the decision in the part relating to the compensation for the alleged damage to the applicant’s human dignity and professional reputation, finding that this claim should be examined by the courts.
24.  On 15 July 2007 the Yasamal District Court delivered a judgment on the merits. The court dismissed the applicant’s compensation claim, noting that he had failed to prove that C. M. had caused any non-pecuniary damage to him.
25.  On 3 October 2007 the Baku Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of 15 July 2007.
26.   The applicant lodged an appeal on points of law. On 29 December 2007 the Baku Court of Appeal refused to admit his appeal. The court noted, in particular, that the appeal had not been signed by an authorised person and that the applicant was not represented by a lawyer as required by the domestic law.
27.  On 25 June 2008 the Supreme Court upheld the Baku Court of Appeal’s inadmissibility decision of 29 December 2007.
28.  In the meantime, in August 2006 the applicant applied to the Judicial Legal Council with a request to institute disciplinary proceedings against a judge of the Yasamal District Court who had originally refused to admit his civil action. The Judicial Legal Council refused to entertain this request. The applicant subsequently applied to the domestic courts complaining about that refusal, but his complaints were unsuccessful.